Car-free zone outside primary schools branded ‘disgraceful’
A new car-free zone scheme outside primary schools has received a mixed reaction from parents, with one angry father branding it ‘a disgrace’ and saying it has made things ‘more unsafe’ for children.
For the next 18 months, six primary schools in Glasgow will have temporary pedestrian areas created at the beginning and end of school days in attempts to help with high levels of air pollution and improve road safety for children.
All cars and motorcycles are banned from the new zones on school days between the hours of 8.30am and 9.15am and 2.30pm and 3.15pm, aside from disabled drivers.
On the first day, Glasgow City Council and Police Scotland had police officers, traffic wardens and safety officers on hand to turn away any vehicles trying to get access to the school.
However, the ‘Car Free Zone’ scheme, which is being tested at Bankhead, Broomhill, Hillhead, Lourdes, Our Lady of the Rosary and St Blane’s primaries, has been slammed by one dad.
Father-of-three Colin Barr, 39, whose children go to Lourdes Primary School in Glasgow’s Southside, says that traffic remains the same and the only difference is that parents now have nowhere to park while dropping off their children.
He said: ‘I think it’s terrible that you can’t come up here with your kids. There’s no parking outside as well because there’s housing and cars already outside. There’s no facilities to park at all.
‘Even when you come up here for a second you’ve literally got to drop your kid off, then away.
‘You can’t even get parked up the road because of the pedestrian barriers and there’s cars all the way up both sides of the road, which will make it worse.
‘Plus if you have to bring your kids across the road it’s going to be more unsafe.’
Mr Barr added: ‘I think it’s just the same as any other school. My other child went to Hillington and they have the same amount of traffic there but with parking facilities. It’s the same situation here but you can’t get parked.
‘To be honest I think it’s a disgrace. There should be more parking spaces for us.’
However, dad-of-three Edward Turner, 32, thought the initiative had a positive first day and argues that the roads are now safer.
He said: ‘Today it went really well. We arrived around 8.50am. Normally there’s traffic jams going all the way up – chaos.
‘We’ve seen near crashes, bumping into the bollards and nearly hitting kids, it’s not been safe.
‘The school, give them their due, they’ve tried, but thankfully now the council’s stepped in.
‘Although it may be a little bit of a hindrance to parents if they’re running a bit late, we all know what it’s like, but at the same time safety first.
‘If you have to walk an extra minute or two then you just have to. I’m all for it, 100 per cent.
‘We saw a police officer turn back a car and a van. The van driver wasn’t too pleased but this has been well marketed so it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone.
‘Being a driver you should be more cautious of things like that, but unfortunately not everyone is.’
No fines have been issued on the scheme so far, despite several cars having been turned away from the schools.
In a statement, Glasgow City Council said it will take time for people to get used to the scheme and they plan on taking a ‘light touch’ approach to begin with.
A spokesman said: ‘It seems to have gone quite well this morning. There was always going to be a period of adjustment as people get used to it.
How many children does Steve McDonald have and who are his ex wives?‘We were supported by the police today at some of the schools and they helped manage the traffic. Some people hadn’t got the memo after the media coverage but people have got their routines.
‘There were no fines but we’re going to take a light-touch approach to start with.’
A study, commissioned by the British Lung Foundation, found that three quarters of people in Glasgow believe that banning cars from around school gates will improve air quality.
The poll found Glaswegians strongly support a scheme to create car-free zones around primaries, with a similar project launched at ten primary schools in Edinburgh back in 2015.